1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure generally relates to resistance based exercise equipment and more particularly to a spring connector for connecting a coil spring to or between components in a spring biased resistance exercise machine such as in a Pilates chair or reformer exercise apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Today, many types of exercise devices are available and used for fitness and/or medical reasons to burn off undesired calories, to improve cardiovascular ability, to tone or strengthen muscles, or to improve flexibility, balance, posture, etc. No matter what the desired end goal of a user of exercise equipment may be, almost all types of exercise equipment aid the user to achieve his or her desired goal by exerting some form of adequate and effective resistance against repeated bodily movements of the user.
Many of these exercise devices utilize elastic resistance members such as coil springs. A hook or closed loop (eye) is often used to connect at least one of the two ends of the coil spring (or generally a force resisting mechanism) between a movable and a fixed location on the exercise equipment.
A reformer is one such exercise device. A reformer is basically a rectangular frame that sits on a floor and constitutes or carries a pair of stationary parallel rails or tracks. A movable carriage for supporting a user's body is mounted on the rails for movement toward and away from one end, the foot end, of the frame. The carriage is typically elastically biased toward the foot end of the frame by one or more coil springs having one end attached to the carriage and the other to a hook or post on an anchor bar near the foot end of the frame.
Each coil spring has a generally cylindrical spiral outer shape, with tapered coil turns at each end. One end of each coil spring has a bent rod connector in the form of a hook or eye. The other end of each coil spring typically also has a bent rod hook that must be inserted into the eye of an eyebolt fastened to an anchor point. Alternatively one end has a hook and the other end has a bent rod connector forming a closed loop or eye that a user grasps and fastens to a corresponding hook or post on the exercise equipment.
The connector having an eye must be grasped by a user and placed over a post, hook or pin to fasten that end connector in place on an anchor bar. Often a user will simply hook his or her finger through the eye and pull the eye onto the post or hook. Sometimes this manipulation may involve some stretching of the spring in order to fit the eye onto the post. In this situation, there is a potential for one of the user's fingers to be caught or pinched between the eye and post during the attaching process. Thus there is a need for a device that a user can grasp to accurately connect the eye of the connector securely to the hook or post without exposing the user's fingers to a potential pinching situation.